On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Kurt Buff <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 22:11, Jeffrey Walton <[email protected]> wrote: >> Sparta, as one of the first democracies, had it right. They put the >> public officials on trial when their term expired because they knew >> what Class A fuck-ups they were. Its funny how that lesson was lost to >> history. > > Sparta in the Classical age and earlier was not a democracy. They were > a set of invaders who had enslaved the native Hellenes in the area (as > opposed to buying slaves or capturing slaves in battle, which is what > the other Hellenic city-states did), and which had kings and enforced > military servitude from approximately ages 8 to 50 or so. And, > actually, Athens, though it was the Western birthplace of democracy, > free speech and all that, wasn't a very pretty society itself. Aside > from the primitive state of technology, they were a religion- and > superstition-bound society to a degree that most modern cultures would > have difficulty comprehending. I agree with the hypocrisy, and much hasn't changed with the superstition/religion bound society (the best I can tell). http://www.google.com/?q=early+democracies.
> Not something I think we should emulate. Unfortunately, we are emulating those past invaders (at least in the middle east). Jeff _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/
